Peer Mentor Program

Advanced undergraduate students (with junior or senior standing) at St. Mary’s College of Maryland can apply to be Peer Mentors for the First Year Seminars held each fall.  The Peer mentors help lead discussion, facilitate “5th Hour” events for each section of the class, and provide an advanced student perspective within the Seminars.  Peer mentors attend every session of the First Year Seminar section to which they are assigned, with the exception of when there is a peer mentor group meeting.  Peer mentors will meet as a group several times during the semester with the Dean of the Core Curriculum and First Year Experience.  Peer mentors receive academic credit for the experience, as they concurrently take CORE401, the Peer Mentoring Practicum. 

The Dean of the Core Curriculum and First Year Experience will send out a call for applications by February each year.  Students may apply by submitting a letter that details their interest, their class standing (students must be a junior or senior in the Fall during which they plan to be a peer mentor), their overall GPA, and why they think they would be a good peer mentor.  Students should also send a resume, the name of one faculty member who could serve as a reference, and the section or sections of the First Year Seminar for which they would want to be considered. 

Contact Dr. Libby Nutt Williams (Dean of the Core Curriculum and First Year Experience) at enwilliams@smcm.edu if you have questions.

Peer Mentors from Fall 2007 - The Pilot Program

Josh Barnett "It was interesting to work with first-year students and reflect back on my own experience while being a part of theirs.
	Conni Bowen “Peer Mentoring gave me a different perspective on the learning process and helped me decide that I want to be a teacher. It was also a great way for me to make connections with students that I probably would never have met.”
Lisa Crear "Being a Peer Mentor was unlike any other experience I've had at St. Mary's."
	Sara Rubinstein  “Being a peer mentor was an experience unlike any other I have had at St. Mary's.  Not only did I get to work closely with and learn from a wonderful professor, but I was able to gain skills that will be useful to me in graduate school--where I may eventually be leading my own classes as a TA.  You definitely get as much out of the experience as the freshmen who are enrolled in the seminar.  Towards the end of my time as a peer mentor, I noticed that my St. Mary's experience had come full circle.  As cliche as it sounds, it made me reflect on how I was as a freshman and how far I had come in my four years at St. Mary's.”

Peer Mentors 2008